Iphone

Apple has begun selling unlocked versions of the iPhone 5 online, with the base model starting at $649. The contract-free version of the flagship Apple smartphone was made available this week, more than two months after the iPhone 5 began selling in the U.S. The unlocked versions of the phone that Apple is selling will work only with GSM networks, which include AT&T and T-Mobile -- the last major U.S. network not to offer the phone. Quiz: What set the Internet on fire in 2012?

The iPhone 5rumor mill has been churning nonstop recently, and that's because the latest reports say Apple will announce the next iPhone come September. The Times will host a Google+ Hangout at 1 p.m. PDT with Times reporter Salvador Rodriguez, MacRumors Editor Arnold Kim, Steve Kovach from Business Insider and will be moderated by the Times' Michelle Maltais. We invite you to join in on the conversation by posting comments below or on The Times' Facebook and Google Plus pages or on Twitter using the #asklatimes hashtag.

So, you just got an iPhone 5, or you're thinking about getting an iPhone 5, and you're wondering whether you should insure it. Replacing a broken iPhone is more expensive than you may realize. The new iPhone starts at $200, but that price is contingent on signing a two-year contract with a carrier. If you lose your phone or break it beyond repair, expect to pay $650 for a new one. PHOTOS: Apple iPhone 5 The iPhone 5...

Cricket announced Thursday that it will become the first U.S. carrier to offer a prepaid iPhone starting in late June. The company said it'll begin carrying 16GB versions of the iPhone and iPhone 4S beginning on June 22. in its announcement , Cricket said it will sell the phones online, at its stores, at select dealers and over the phone for $499.99 for the 4S and $399.99 for the 4. Users of the service who choose to buy the prepaid...

Virgin Mobile has announced it will begin selling the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 beginning June 29, positioning itself as Cricket's competitor in the brand new prepaid iPhone U.S. market. The carrier will sell the phone for plans as low as $30 that will include unlimited texts, 300 talk minutes and unlimited data, although it will be throttled after 2.5 GBs. For another $10, the minutes can be bumped up to 1,200 and for $50 a month, voice becomes unlimited as well. The monthly plans for Virgin Mobile's iPhone begin at $35, but users can receive a $5 discount if they register for monthly automatic payments.

As we've all been expecting for months, Apple unveiled the iPhone 5 on Wednesday. And with preorders set to begin Friday, the question is: Should you buy the new device? It depends. Comparison: iPhone 5 vs iPhone 4S vs Galaxy S III The iPhone 5 is a vast improvement over the iPhone 4S and it's sure to be another great and reliable Apple product. However, it is no longer the most technologically advanced phone. Other devices have screens bigger than Apple's with picture quality that's just as good if not arguably better.

More than 1 million people ordered Apple Inc.'s iPhone 4S in the first 24 hours the smartphone went on sale, easily surpassing the record 600,000 units sold on the first day for its predecessor. The impressive first-day preorders are a bit of good news for Apple when the company could use some after the death last week of its co-founder Steve Jobs. "We are blown away with the incredible customer response to iPhone 4S," Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, said in a statement.

It hasn't even been three months since the iPhone 5 released and already rumors about an iPhone 5S, or even an iPhone 6, are starting to spread on the Internet. Apple comes out with a new version of its smartphone each year, so these rumors are expected on an annual basis. But typically the off-season for iPhone rumors feels like it lasts longer than this -- I mean, the iPhone 5 hasn't even come out in most countries yet . Regardless, they have begun, and there's nothing we can do about it. So what exactly is all the buzz about the seventh-generation iPhone?

Vivek Wadhwa recently used his iPhone while traveling in India. "I only checked emails a few times, made several calls," Wadhwa, a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley, recalled of the 12-day trip. When he returned home, he received a shock: an AT&T phone bill with international roaming charges for $800. "I was so outraged," the Menlo Park, Calif., resident said. "So for the next trip, I hacked my iPhone — unlocked it — and just plugged in my local [Indian] SIM card. " The charges for the Indian SIM, for voice and data, cost him as little as $2 per trip.

The most common question I've gotten since Apple's iPhone event last Tuesday is this: Should I buy the iPhone 5s or the iPhone 5c? The answer is easy: the iPhone 5s. At the iPhone event Apple touted three major advances in the iPhone 5s. The first was the 64-bit processor, which makes the phone twice as fast as the iPhone 5. And the second was the fingerprint scanner, which offers added security. These are fine evolutions, but not the sort of thing that I think will inspire most folks to rush out the door for a new iPhone. PHOTOS: Biggest tech flops of 2013 so far But the clear difference in my mind is the new iSight camera on the iPhone 5s. It's a huge upgrade.